AHB TV: The Ultimate Healthy Sugar Cookies

Although many people associate sugar cookies with Christmas, I actually connect them with Valentine’s Day first. Don’t get me wrong—I think they’re delicious cookies to enjoy all year round!—but Valentine’s Day is when Mom always bought them from the grocery store bakery for my brother and me.

Throughout our childhood, the type often varied. Sometimes she brought home the crunchy kind covered in coarse red sugar, or the Lofthouse-style thick and cakey ones with frosting and sprinkles, or the buttery and chewy type neatly decorated with festive royal icing.

Forever a chewy cookie lover, I favored the last ones above all and slowly savored every bite. As I grew older, the overly sugary icing became less appealing, and I mainly looked forward to the soft cookie underneath.

And those were the kind I had in mind when I developed this recipe for the Ultimate Healthy Sugar Cookies! They’re sweet, buttery, and chewy, just like my favorite ones from my childhood, but these are really easy to make and just 41 calories!

You can watch the episode below where I show you how to make these guilt-free sugar cookies and get my recipe directly beneath the video. And remember to subscribe to my TV show here, so you’ll be the first to know when a new episode airs each week!

Comments

I firmly believe that sugar cookies are underrated – they’re my favorite classic cookie, for sure. LOVE your better/healthier version; and of course, another great episode of AHB TV! Love that you used a mix of honey and vanilla stevia for the sweetness. I really appreciate that you show every single step, instead of rush through the baking process like some YouTube bakers out there. So interesting about your secret trick too! Keep up the awesome work and inspiration, dear Amy!

Awww Liz, your sweet comments ALWAYS make my day! My heart is absolutely glowing — thank you SO much!!! ♡ That’s wonderful to hear that sugar cookies are your favorite! I always forget just how much I enjoy them until I make a batch… And then I wonder why I don’t make them more often! 😉 I can’t wait to hear what you think about next weeks’ episode!!

Ahhhhh SOOO cute! I love the sound of honey in sugar cookies. YUM! I’m amazed that the plastic wrap peeled right off! You didn’t have to spray it first?! I’ve used that trick but I think I sprayed the plastic wrap first. Maybe it was just a stickier dough!

Thanks lovely! 🙂 Yes, the plastic wrap peels right off! I tried using that trick for a much stickier dough earlier this week, and since the dough was more like muffin batter consistency, it definitely didn’t peel right off… But if your dough is the consistency of regular sugar cookie dough or pie crust dough, then it works like a charm! 😉

I’m so glad you’re enjoying my recipes Rebecca — that means a lot to me! 🙂 If your liquid stevia is the same brand as my vanilla stevia, then yes! I can’t wait to hear what you think of these sugar cookies!

I really appreciate your interest in my recipe, Hayley! I don’t recommend substituting xanthan gum for the cornstarch. Xanthan gum imitates glutens’ stretchy properties, whereas cornstarch traps moisture to keep the cookies soft. If you don’t have cornstarch (or tapioca starch!), then you can omit it. The best substitutes for honey are agave and maple syrup. Don’t use banana, applesauce, or Greek yogurt — those will make the cookies bready! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of them!

Can I use milk and stevia like with the oatmeal cookies? Honey, agave, maple syrup, and sugar in general seem to make my depression worse so I’m avoiding them like the plague. Thus I’m loving experimenting with your cookies. I use sprouted spelt for my flour as it is the most kind to my blood sugar while still tasting like flour and we adore the vanilla creme stevia. I thought cookies may be lost to me forever but yours are a breath of new hope. My girls are also thrilled to have cookies back in their life and my experimenting to make them fully stevia sweetened is loved by them as they are enjoying all my experiments even if they aren’t quite my end goal as they haven’t had cookies for years. I also love the pound cakes and made a lemon one for Christmas that was so yummy and the gingerbread cookies.

I really appreciate your interest in my recipe, Hayley! In general, I don’t recommend that milk + stevia substitution in non-oatmeal cookie recipes because it gives the cookies a bready texture. However, because of how sugar affects your mood, I think it’d be okay to try — just remember that the cookies’ texture will be different! In this recipe, use ¼ cup of milk + ¾ teaspoon vanilla stevia to replace the honey. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you and your girls think of these sugar cookies!

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